Bad Kingdom
by 8mybrain
Summary: During the rise of the new virus and forever strained relations between vampires and humans, Eric feels fortunate to run into something that could promise him tremendous power. But when this thing is inhuman, a creature he's never dealt with before, it becomes a test of all his ability to contain it. Not sure where I'm going with this ... Elfen Lied-ish crossover read & review
1. Untitled

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Trueblood or any of the characters. I know right, shocker.

* * *

It was really inexplicable. The air had the same humid, summery night-time heat as it had always, the chorus of the frogs in the surrounding shrubbery were exactly the same as the one's she'd been sang as a child, and the crowd in Merlotte's was its usual boisterous self, recuperating after a long day's work with familiar grins and chilly beer. And yet, behind her stellar server's smile and ladylike Southern composure, Sookie Stackhouse couldn't shake the feeling that something was very, very wrong.

With practiced grace and friendliness, she delivered meals to patrons, dropping off pitchers and cocktails and keeping up with Arlene to make sure everything was getting taken care of. Focusing on her work, and pushing the unwelcome thoughts of others from floating into her mind, the girl tried to distract herself from the distinct sense of unease that July night…but she couldn't fully ignore her highly developed instincts, the sense of foreboding they seemed to instill. The girl forced herself to think only of the ever increasing dinner rush. Hopefully it was nothing. But then again, knowing their luck in Bon Temps, it wouldn't be.

(Hours before)

It was a wonder camp was even a secret, considering how loudly and horribly the alarms were sounding that night.

The entire perimeter was ablaze with movement. Trained, armed officials, in file, raced swiftly through rehearsed patterned movements. Uniformed employees in lab coats filed into properly lit and defended rooms as per safety regulations. In the hallways, lights flashed and vision was compromised. The massive metal doors between the sectors and around the facility began to descend, closing off those inside from the outside world, isolating them. A monotone female voice sounded through the announcement system, its calmness deceptive to the chaos surrounding.

"Warning. Warning. Code X- 419. Number Seventeen has breached. Facility quarantine. Warning. Code X-419."

Gunned men separated the defenseless scientists from the direction of the oncoming threat, kneeling in the positions they'd been trained to carry, lifting their heavy guns toward a rising elevator at the end of the hallway. The numbers on the elevator display began to decrease as whatever was inside travelled toward their floor. Beads of sweat collected under their helmets and their hearts beat viciously.

"Warning. Security Breach. Code X-419"

The air was unbearably tense. Mutters of confusion and advice came upon the human security team. They'd been trained for vampires, but this was different. "Don't get close to it, they said within 7 feet." one advised another. "Don't let anything drop near it, I heard…"

The elevator stopped. The door opened. "Warning, Warning."

With a collective yell the team began to fire, a dozen of them or so shielding them from a few scientists apparently paralyzed with fear, never having seen this type of breach before, unable to tear away.

UV and silver bullets alike rained almost instantly upon the figure in the elevator door as it slowly opened. "Security breach. Code X-419. Deactivate all exits. Warning."

Several seconds of ear-splitting noise and gunfire, followed by a strained pause, and then the faint crumbling of the walls that had been damaged behind it. The smoke began to clear. Slowly, something became visible through the destruction, a pale figure stepping slowly forward. Not fast like a vampire, but ghostly white. It looked underweight, hungry, female, naked. Void of body hair, and an ominous metal obstruction covering the face and eyes, a utilitarian facility-regulated headpiece. It looked cumbersome and heavy, completely shielding the monster's visage from view, hiding her hair. She moved slowly. She was tiny, not very tall, maybe 5 '7, slender. Her feet made little noise but she did not zoom forward.

She looked weak, but unharmed. In front of her stood a pattern of frozen silver dots…the bullets, those that would have hit her, it, suspended in midair. After remaining frozen for some seconds, they began falling to the floor in a collection of small sounds and chimes. Her footsteps continued forward, and she remained unscathed.

"Keep shooting!" "We have to reload!" "Regroup! "Warning. Warning."

Something rolled out from behind her in the elevator, seemingly on its own. A black ballpoint pen. "Code X-419."

In a flash it was gone, and one man noticed his partner cry out, fall to the ground. He saw the pattern of blood in the air as it flew from his punctured eye almost in slow motion. By the time they'd registered one had died it had been too late. Another ran up in rage at seeing a comrade fall, lifting his gun to strike the being in the face manually with a primal scream. She'd gotten too close. His head flew. His heart erupted out of his ribcage, severed, intact, onto the chest of a screaming colleague. The monster's figure showed little connection to these atrocities. Unperturbed, silent, devoted, she walked on.

"Number seventeen has escaped. Secure the perimeter."

Blood poured. Bodies imploded carefully, horribly, ribs gnashing into leg muscles, innards squelching onto the once sterile floor, screams gurgling and becoming raspy within moments. Attempts to run, failed. Silence. "Warning. Warning."

The groan of the silver-infused metal doors closing down on the last sliver of hope for freedom. The monster's wet feet, bloody, running through the hall, ignoring the evidence and cameras, ducking from the building, toward the fence, the woods, the water, the world.

"Number seventeen has escaped."

Her sigh of relief was inaudible due to the heavy helmet. The murderer ran for it, nude, ignoring how the twigs tore at her revealed soles, how her body was unshielded and blind. Freedom. Freedom. The only thought.

"Kill her." Several floors up, a sniper focuses and takes fire. The bullet is silent. The killer gasps as her helmet is cracked, shatters. A cloud of black hair erupted from the wreckage of the thing, and despite knowing the worst, the female kept running, not letting her body be bogged by the quickly rising levels of pain in her forehead, her heart that was beginning to beat alarmingly. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Don't die now. So close. And she ran, and bleeding, naked, in the woods, she reached the end of the strip, seeing where the island of her prison meets the water. The pallid being stopped at the shoreline, blood cascading down her face, unable to compute what to do next but just barely being able to make out the blur of city lights on the opposite side through her one focusing eye. There's no boat. Without any time to spare, the woman rushed out into the water, straining, feeling its warmth from a long day and evening in the summer heat as it surrounded her worn and destroyed body.

Ignoring the way her waist-length ebony hair began to weigh constrictively and uncomfortably on her fragile form once wet, she waded into the murky depths and tried vainly to swim to the other shoreline. It's not far. It seems her instincts are propelling her, but she's losing a lot of blood, and things aren't going well. Focus comes in and out and things start to fade and get darker. It's so close. She won't make it. Listless, her body drifted out toward the shore, adrenaline and blood leaking everything and reality away from her.

Normally, the music would be deafeningly loud in Fangtasia at this time of the night, as all the creatures of the underworld and overworld alike come out to party. And yet, declined by laws concerning vampire-run business, the once "majestic" club is silent and deserted. Well, deserted but for one, a vampire king come to erase some evidence, to protect his kin and himself. He wasn't bothered by the lack of doofuses in his bar, actually, feeling less than attached to the former dwelling and none too bothered by the fact that he needed to move onto more important pursuits.

It was with faint surprise that he felt a dim presence, like but not unlike his own, wash up onto the shore. The mixture of human and supernatural blood in the air hit him harder, and the vampire's pupils dilated as his fangs extended to the brutally tempting aroma. Something ravenous awoke in him, like a shark smelling blood in the water, drawing him in a second to the harbour. Whatever this thing was, even if it was soggy and barely conscious, it smelled like hot cross buns and icing to him. It smelled like melting brownies fresh from the oven, but in a way that was unfathomably appetizing, being as he'd been turned before the discovery of brownies and never tried one himself. The fragrance was something unimaginable and awoke an animalistic drive in him he struggled to control.

Drawing his tall frame down the Shreveport harbour and lurking with leather on despite the July heat, Eric Northman knew his most blatant instinct was to find this bleeding thing, drain it, and return to his business with a sated urge. But when he saw it, the pale bleeding form washed up on the shoreline a delight to his keen vampire eyes, Eric began to reconsider. In a split second her was there, poring over the creature, and thanking his good fortune that he was the one to witness this, and alone as well.

"Well, well." the vampire mused to himself, grinning, his pale face and glimmering fangs becoming lit as he drew in by the eerie streetlights above. "What have we here? Anything left for me?"

Unphased by her nudity, he felt his instincts pull him close beside her. He breathed in her fading presence, understanding what he could of her story through the vibrant pattern of smells that he could decipher. He smelled the facility, the blood of dead humans, the dust from the UV bullets and the silver in the doors. Opening his mouth slightly, he tasted their suffering, and her own, and the deaths and presences of vampires. The remnants of those materials to him were unpleasant to him but they held a story…a story he needed to understand. But she was so tempting, so vulnerable. And alive.

It took some time to collect his instincts, and the blonde male found himself hovering darkly above her for some seconds as his calculating side forced him to control the side of him that wanted to ecstatically devour her loveliness. He looked for physical clues as to what she was, so unlike a faerie or human or vampire, yet obviously kept in close proximity to his own kind. Time seemed to be of the essence here, as he had better things to be doing than suspending himself over an unconscious bleeding victim on a lit beach where he could at any moment get hassled by stupid cops for being out after curfew.

Drawing his blue eye over her revealed form (too skinny, but passable, alluring breasts and thighs, a deliciously scented heart quivering underneath, masses of long, wet, black hair) he became aware of the way she was paling considerably, slowing her breath. Although it was so unbelievably appealing to drain the thing dead there and leave her, he was much too calculating for that, and had to at least satisfy the curiosity for what this individual was before he sucked her dry. But what could he do? The Viking knew he had to act quickly, feeling her heartbeat beginning to fade, and his own would-be heart breaking at the thought that there would be no more supply of the sweet, alluring blood her face oozed that was driving such an inconvenient insanity into him. Why was this creature so tempting?

It was with some hungry despair that he felt her beginning to die there, unclothed on the deserted harbor, and in a movement he removed his leather and scooped her bloodied form inside, lifting her with ease. She couldn't have weighed more than a buck five, but even if she was much larger he wouldn't have felt it, his strength exaggerated by thousands of years of undead life. Moving with a grace unknown to humans, it took a fraction of a second to be hidden from the abrasive streetlights, although the "saviour" knew there wouldn't be much time to take her further. Eric held her in his lap, almost like a child, supporting her lolling shoulders and head with one arm, the blacks of his eyes still almost overcoming the blue with desire for her barely living form. Not only physically, but intellectually, he was burningly curious for this gorgeously scented thing that he knew could not be a human being, knew had been somewhere and gained information he drastically needed. There might not be another chance. He had to act.

Raising his wrist, he neatly dug his sharpened fangs not into her skin, but his own, drawing his own blood and fighting his nature for the promise of later gratification. It pooled, a deep red, from the fresh wound and he dripped it carefully into her parted lips. From an outsider's perspective it might have seemed a scene of loving compassion, the way he knelt over her little body, shielding her with his coat and fixing his azure gaze on her and nothing else…but it was anything but. It was a war now, and he needed everything he could get, to protect himself and his kin against humans. They would be connected as long as she lived, but he accepted this, it was his only choice. The light-haired vampire let only the amount in that he knew would do the job, sealing the wound with a flash of his tongue and fighting back the desire to tear open her neck and feast on the warmth and loveliness inside. "Wake up, little thing." he soothed carnally with flashing incisors. "We're going to go soon, and you're going to tell me everything.."

Through the haze brought on by the way he craved to take her life then and there, he zoned in on her features, taking in the even-ness of her ivory face, high cheekbones, small waist, wet, hopelessly back hair. Her eyebrows were thick and arched, and the coils of her jet-black tresses marred with dried blood and sand and dirt. The vampire smelled her youth, probably around nineteen, a baby, nothing compared to him. A fruit fly. A fucking tempting delicious juicy fruit fly. He felt the raise in the pace and strength of her heartbeat as if it had been his own, already detecting the oneness with her, trying to use his new presence within her to pinpoint what she was and what to expect as she regained consciousness. Being experienced, he already knew the system of giving his blood and wanted to use it to his advantage in case she was dangerous. Although, with his arms around her, wrapping her in his leather jacket, there wasn't a chance she'd be able to break free from his inhuman strength. Or so he assumed.

A flood of emotions unlike anything he'd expected roamed through him as his mental connection to her mind became exaggerated by her return to the living. The young woman began to stir, and he felt the bloodlust, murderousness, despair, hunger – nothing like that of a human, more like that of his own kind or worse – seeping into his psyche. He felt the ravenousness of a new vampire, but the cold thirst of a power hungry adult, merged into one, in a living thing, a force unlike any he'd known. Rage, combined with his own, trying to overtake him, hunger, a wild drive to kill, blending with his own instincts, bringing out his fangs further, confusing him. It took only seconds, and her eyes began to open, and in the dark he could see them clearly, pale violet, with slit, snakelike pupils, her own lip curling loathingly and wild with kill-need, revealing that she did not have fangs, but through their newly established union Eric knew he had just encountered something not natural and something very, very fucked up.

"Stay. Away." She snarled, and a translucent form flickered in the air behind her, coiling back, and he was feet away a gust of wind but it reached out to him in a flash, slicing into his shoulder faster than he could move. His blood, that he'd so generously given to her moments before, spilled needlessly into the sand. The tall Viking was less than thrilled, seeing the gentlemanliness of his gesture moments before met with such disrespect. She stood quickly, but he observed her faltering, not quite healed although the wound in her head was closing up and no longer threatening her life. The pale indigo of her gaze fixed on him, and he could feel her as she commended her newfound increased-night vision ability, could sense her thrill at the sudden enhance in her powers with vampire blood. His own blue irises narrowed at her reaction. Ungrateful little thing. It was just a small scratch, but still. He'd even let her wear his leather! How silly that she was turning against him now. How intriguing that she dealt with a desire for blood he'd only experienced after death.

"I don't kill vampires." the female commented. Ah. So she wasn't completely unobservant. Her voice was deliberate, paced as if she thought before speaking. "You may not be as awful as a human, but I have nothing to do with you now. Goodbye."

The tall ancient drew himself up straight, feeling the scratch in his form begin to seal and heal, despite being rather deep. He wracked his brain for a memory in his thousands of years of existence that was anything similar to what he'd just experienced. What the fuck had struck him? Oh well, she'd see what she'd have coming. It took almost no time for her to cry out in shock and vicarious pain. The pale girl nearly crumpled again, clutching her own unscathed shoulder with shaking fingers as if she herself had been cut. After what he'd done, by harming him, she was tearing at herself as well. His own cleverness never failed him in he end.

"You're weak." Eric mused, smirking. Her heartbeat was too calm and steady to be that of a human, but he knew whatever she was, she felt it. His own pain, protecting him when he cut her, the snakes of his mind, his own vampiric lust, were all a part of her being now, running with his blood in her system to remain. "You're hungry." So was he. "You have nowhere to go, and, correct me if I'm wrong…" blue eyes, staring, scanning her for any reaction to his words. "…but I doubt you're looking to be sent back to the place from which you've escaped."

Those inhuman, catlike eyes of the newcomer bewitched him, and as much as Eric wanted to rush over and hold her and fuck her naked body and tear her veins out with his fangs, he felt a rising camaraderie, wanting to run with her, to see the world with her, to drink with her and hunt with her and, most of all, to harness what had cut him…he'd sensed that power but had never known it to be this. Realization began to click together in his brain. This killer human-thing was one of a kind, and through the part of him he'd given her Eric Northman knew he'd tapped into an overwhelming source of power and perhaps promise for him. In a way he supposed she was beautiful. He felt her confidence, her thirst, her assuredness, and knew it was only brought on from years of tremendous ability and destruction, from suffering and vengeance and cold-heartednesss, from a taste for cruelty he felt himself wanting to adore. The wisps of her personality that penetrated his system involved him and made his fangs feel prominent in his mouth, craving a taste of her nature, her energy.

From the indecisiveness of her footsteps and the way she paused at his words, he knew he had struck a chord, could see her considering staying, see her understanding that she did not know what to expect of was out there in the world or where to hide or what to hide from. He could tell she did not know how to control her next kill, or how to blend in and protect herself from the forces that had contained and starved her for so long.

From his highly developed senses, the vampire could feel through the energies in his blood that this creature was some sort of telekinetic.

He craved the power, her taste, the time he would draw that energy into his own and gain that power as his own. That asshole Bill-ith would be nothing once he had a few tastes of this new creation and borne some of her into himself.

This was an opportunity among opportunities.

* * *

Okay, so, this is my first True Blood fic ever and I have no idea where I'm going with it really. It's set during season 6. I'm hoping you like it and it becomes an awesome one, but yeah, season 6 is still on so I'm trying to make it parallel to the events in the story. Who even knows. I just want to write something unlike the other fics out there, and see if I can keep true to the characters while introducing an interesting and believable new one. Much of the idea is mixed with that of Elfen Lied and I'm thinking I could make a rad story out of it. We'll see! I hope you like it, please review and respond.


	2. Bad Idea

Lol no reviews. Burn, I'm writing this anyway. I'm actually gonna change this to be AFTER season 6, since the show is way too fast paced to parallel in writing imo.

* * *

Chapter 2

The following day, it took some time for her to even realize where she was.

Relishing the glory of independent movement, the female rubbed at her eyes and excitedly swung her legs over the side of the bed, feeling growingly excited with each second to not be constrained by shackles and headpieces any longer. It was still hard to fully wrap one's mind around the now tangible liberty about which she had dreamed for so long. Now that she was the one in control of her own body, the world seemed like an endless place of possibilities. Having been imprisoned for four years, Slater knew almost nothing of what to expect, or even, she began to realize, where the hell she was.

A quick glance around the room taught her she was nowhere familiar, but there were no photos around or clues as to whose abode this could be. All of the furniture and artwork, although beautiful, did not remind her of anything, and aside from some interest in the mirror on the closet door, she found herself quite bored.

The reflection in the mirror was intriguing; she'd aged, but at least her skin was somewhat clear. She fretted at her lanky, boney frame, her shadowed eyes, and listless hair. The blood and dirt made the entire scene of her gross appearance even worse, and she recoiled from the view to find piles of rather appealingly clean and unused clothing folded and hung inside the closet.

Silently, she pushed the door open further to consult wardrobe options. Okay, obviously a guy lived here…there was nothing good to wear, and it was all huge. A quick turn of the knob at the bedroom door showed her that she was locked in, apart from the bedroom and connected bathroom. Ah. Hospitable. Shrugging that it would have to do, she unearthed a gray men's American Apparel tank top (a brand she recognized! Good, maybe she wasn't on the other side of the world) that dipped dangerously low on the sides due to being far too big but at least covered her bum. Still feeling a bit revealed, she threw on a pair of clean black boxers. These clothes seemed to have not been worn by anyone in a long time, if ever, thrown aside folded. Whoever bought these didn't seem to have had any interest in ever wearing them. This must have been a spare room, and whoever owned it must have expected her to stay put.

Hah, fuck. As if.

The window, of course, was locked. Double paned. She could sort of see the mechanism on the outside that held the glass impenetrably to the building. This was more than a normal security measure…the long-haired creature cocked her hip to one side and wracked her brain a little to piece the memories together…they hadn't retained well. She remembered somewhat getting shot in the head during her escape…encountering an ominous individual on the beach…drinking from his wrist…drinking! A vampire! All came to her as if deciphering a drunken haze. What had they even talked about? Why would a creature like that feel the need to be compassionate? What could he want from her?

With a start she spied the digital alarm clock beside the bed, and the point at which the sun was in the heated sky. 5:30pm. God damnit, it was summer but her host would be out and about soon at this rate, and she didn't feel like waiting until then to see what awaited her outside. Plus, it was lunchtime. Crazy she'd slept so late. So fucking hungry.

Alight with newfound confidence, Vesper stalked back to the window and observed from inside the way the lock was set up. She summoned her vectors.

Focusing on the structure outside, she drew four translucent arms –invisible to those other than her – and slowly raised them through the glass. Like hands of ghosts, they made no noise, not connecting to her body but developing in the air around her as if connected to an invisible being. With ease, she crushed the lock, pulling it apart, solidifying the unseeable arm and crashing the entire piece down several floors. The leftover pane she simply blew out with another arm so that it fell to the ground, shattering outside after some seconds' fall. She was high up! Cool! Unphased, the brunette threw her pale legs out the window and sailed out, smashing the ground with her vectors as she landed and depleting the impact so that no harm befell her still bare feet. Time to go.

Now, there was just the issue of transportation. The young woman found a variety of beautiful cars parked nearby, even a motorcycle, and she struggled to imagine how it must be to be so rich. Stealing one wouldn't do…what if it had some sort of tracking implement? She decided quickly to avoid temptation, and merely hitchhike. It was only a few minutes' run (Man! How lovely it felt to run freely!) to a nearby overpass, under which the killer could observe traffic passing through. Opportunity knocked soon thereafter, and she was able to inconspicuously swing a vector onto the roof of a massive truck going by, and grasp the railings attached with invisible fingers.

There was some unsteadiness as she managed to latch herself on, but nothing unbearable. It was hot, and the black haired girl was hungry and felt dizzied after only a short time. Why hadn't she stopped for food and water? How would she get some without any money?

None of the scenery looked anything familiar, and she found herself hesitant to jump off, not knowing what she'd find…some sort of country landscape. The south, maybe? Despite spending years in the facility relatively near to there, she had no idea of its location, and no idea what to think of where she was at the present time…

Unfortunately for her, the driver spied her whipping hair in the rear-view, and decided to dump this unwelcome freeloader in the nearest town. Damn trainhopping punks...he wasn't in any mood to have to deal with a bunch of leather-toting drunk dirty assholes stealing all his cargo, but this happened so often it wasn't even worth pulling over to shoot then. The truck took a dangerous turn surprisingly swiftly, and with her mind in other places, Vesper was flung into the air. The speeding vehicle flew from her extensions' grasp, and although she used the other two to soften the impact a bit, the murderer landed with an unpleasant smack on the head.

_"Twenty-seven proclaimed dead in two hours…one of the biggest massacres in the area in recent history…unknown if a vampire or some other_…"

Jason hated that crap they played instead of music on the radio. "Boring!" huffed the young officer, leaning into his car to turn the dial on the radio. The blonde was just enjoying the quiet evening before sundown and the regular drama; even making an example of himself by drinking beer while leaning against the car instead of while driving it. In uniform. During his shift. Best role model in town! At first he was concerned with the dangerous speeding of a sudden truck vaulting by, but the sight became even more unusual when he spotted a black-haired girl fall from behind it and smash into the ground. Oh, shit! Never one to leave a lady in pain, he left his beer on the roof of the police cruiser and ran to the rescue.

She was miraculously unhurt, but unconscious. It took several seconds for him to think of what to do when he got to her, and foolishly lifted her up despite learning many times in training not to move injured persons. Whoops. Thankfully his seconds of alarm were short lived, as she soon opened her eyes, and he was able to help the young woman to her feet. The boy found himself fighting to look away from her revealed tits and up to her face.

"Kyuu…" she wailed, crinkling her nose like a child that had been struck in the face. "You alright, little lady?" officer Stackhouse inquired, but she just looked at him with wide, watery, confused eyes. "Hellooo?" he waved a hand in front of her face and found himself becoming gently exhasperated. He saves a beautiful girl, and she doesn't know what's going on? "Speak English?"

"Uahh..? Ky…" "Can you say anything else?"

Silence. "Jesus."

Groaning, she held her stomach, and Jason began to notice it producing odd noises. The female gave him an expecting, pleading face, and he offered to let her into the car. She was obviously hungry…and plus, he could use this opportunity to take her to Sookie – maybe a quick mind-read would get this chick's story? Or at least find out what language she was tryng to speak…even getting her into the car was somewhat of a confusion; she didn't seem to know how to do her seatbelt or sit properly. He couldn't believe she hadn't been hurt somehow more by the impact, and was wondering to himself how he'd explain to everyone that she'd fallen off a truck at 80mph and not gotten splattered. He couldn't explain it himself. There was some awkwardness as he brushed against her boobs while doing up her seatbelt; she squirmed like a child and seemed amazed by the police radio. "Quit playing with that! Jeez kid, hold still..." He hit the gas with his mind entertaining all the possibilities, his forgotten beer flying off the roof and spilling everywhere in his wake.

By the time Jason was pulling into the Bellefleur's parking lot (his sister still worked casual shifts) the sun was dipping tentatively behind the a frown, he noticed the traces of blood on his dark haired companion's skin that seemed to leak from nonexistent wounds. "Come here." he felt ashamed for not noticing sooner, gently cupping the girl's face in his hand. Ignoring her mewles of curiosity, Jason wondered to himself if she'd come in contact with vampire blood and felt a sinking feeling that there was yet more vampire drama to be discovered. Well, there was always more vampire drama. The rise of Hep V and Mayor Sam's vampire-human partner program was in full force, although shaky, and feedings between human and fanged were more than common. The blonde was perplexed no to find bite marks on her neck, or anywhere, and frowned even further as he unbuckled her from the car and noticed her dirty, bloody, matted hair. Two small bony protrusions seemed to be hiding underneath her black tresses, but as he peered for a closer look she vaulted from the car and he had to rush to keep up. Overwhelmed by a catlike curiosity, she was a struggle to hustle into the restaurant as she seemed to want to stop and look at every plant and stairstep.

Okay, so he probably could have made it a bit earlier. But once the elder Stackhouse sibling got thinking, how weird this story was would just get weirder. He shows up with an unscathed, retarded, half-naked girl and tells them she fell off a truck? Isn't that a bit unbelievable? Sookie would take his word, but he knew deep down she'd think he was overlooking something. At least she'd know he was telling the truth.

For some reason he felt ominously nervous about the choice he'd made. Oh well, too late now.

"Hey, Sook!" he swung into a seat at the bar and smiled genuinely at his younger sibling, who was just beginning to do her cashout. The new girl, surprisingly, followed his example, mimicking her swagger almost comically as she situated herself at the bar. "Can you get Lafayette to start me two specials? Extra banana pepper and bacon on mine." "Myuu!"

Sookie chuckled to herself, her cute blonde ponytail waggling as she looked quizzically toward her brother and his new companion. "Who's this?"

"Oh yeah!" with his mind on his upcoming cheeseburger, Jason had almost forgot he had someone with him. "Uh, I don't know her name." he admitted. The look she gave him while handing Lafayette the order was poisonous. "No! I don't mean like that!" he corrected sheepishly. "Just…she won't tell me."

"Huh." The waitress responded, heading back over to the bar and leaning to take a good look at the girl.

"Yeah. Infact, she uh, don't seem to wanna speak at all. I was wondering if you could help me out." he asked, and she gave him a slight smile, knowing immediately the insinuation of his request.

Focusing her chocolate optics on the pale girl, Sookie tried to isolate the girl's mind signals from those around her. Taken by the excitement of her surroundings as the bar began to fill with patrons for night shift, the brunette paid no mind, eyes staring enthusiastically at the scene around her as if she'd never seen a pub before. The faerie was perplexed at what she found.

"What did you see?" urged Jason.

"Well…nothin'." Her brother shot a disbelieving look. "I mean," she continued "it's not like I can't read her, it's just that she doesn't think in any language. It's all a bunch of visions and impulses…" her expression became worried as she looked to her brother. "Like…a baby."

"Ahh!" the girl was thrilled when her double bacon cheeseburger and wedge fries came, and ate in one of the least ladylike ways the two had seen in awhile, paying no mind to common decency as she gobbled it all down. She finished the massive serving well before Jason had done his, and on his shy offering also ate a ton of his onion rings. All of it was washed down with two milkshakes and a cream soda, and by that time others were beginning to stare at the girl with the bottomless stomach and blatant lack of concern for calories. None of it seemed to phase her at all.

"Yeesh! They got food where you come from?" the older Stackhouse sibling was perplexed, but impressed.

"Jason…" Sookie's expression grew more and more concerned as the mystery girl appreciatively licked at her fingers. "What if she's got amnesia? What if someone's lookin' for her? We shouldn't just keep her here…:"

Jason's face fell somewhat as he found himself using a napkin to wipe a smear of mustard off the lanky brunette's face. It wasn't unlike a baby at all…a sexy, developed baby? Her skinny arms and bony knees had reminded him of someone from the get-go, and with a pull of his heart he realized he'd been thinking of his lost love, Crystal. Uncharacteristically, he thought before speaking. His poor sister was probably hoping to protect him from another heartbreak. "What if she's runnin from someone?" the glance he shared with his sister after that was a heavier one, and they both thought to themselves silently.

The sun set. Someone came.

The front door of the bar blasted open in what seemed to be only minutes after dark, and everyone turned to see a tall, ominous figure walk him alongside his gorgeous blonde childe. Although she'd been around here and there, the female had kept her profile very low and spent much of the time since the uprising travelling and pursuing her own interests. Her insatiably fashionable outfit and bored demeanor indicated that she found the trip to this hick-bar nothing new and insultingly uninteresting, and she frowned at the uncivilized drunks and debauchery around her.

Thankfully, the noise in the bar picked up again, the dramatic entrance not enough to distract patrons from what a good time they'd been having drinking their troubles away. The vampires, demonstrating their confidence, walked in a purposefully slowed human pace to the bar where Sookie, Jason, and the nameless girl convened.

"Good evening, Sookie." Eric said in a tone that made Jason bristle visibly. "Evening" she replied, hoping her gulp of nervousness was inaudible. Having been missing for several months after his destruction of the Hep V facility they'd once infiltrated together, she felt a significant rift between them now. Something about losing those close to him seemed to have changed him, made him colder, harder to relate. The telepath could see the cogs working in the tall Viking's brain, and felt uneasy for how events were about to unfold.

"Stackhouse." He greeted simply to the elder sibling. "I believe you have something of mine."

"Nah uh." The younger male enunciated decisively, putting a fist firmly on the wooden table as if to strengthen his point. "If you're sayin what I think you're sayin, ain't no-body goin no-where."

"Right. Pam, grab her. We're leaving."

In an instant Pamela had the woman's arm in her own, pulling her forcefully off the bar stool. She glanced with a dripping sort of mock apology toward Jason, "Sorry." In the beginning she'd refused to help with another bullshit kidnapping, wanting nothing less than for this stupid town to be out of her life forever. What a god damn waste of time. Grasping the girl by the hair and firmly jerking her pallid weight off the stool, the undead woman turned for the doorway and was unphased by her victim's protests.

The language-less girl struggled, and began to cry and wail. "Eric" Sookie said in a warning, no-bullshit voice. "Don't you dare! For all you know her family is lookin for her—"

"How sweet." Eric responded, and turned without any further explanation to follow his partner.

"Eric, I'm not kidding, you leave her alone!"

The hostage's crying was getting louder and more panicked. She went limp like a child in a tantrum, glowering, and although her weight was nothing immortal Pam couldn't easily toss around, her captor was quickly growing irritated. The urges to get this over with and be back to her own business as quickly as possible were drawing her patience to its thinnest point. This had been a stupid chore for her to do on Eric's behalf, petty, and she had know idea why he'd asked her to do it or why she'd let him coax her into agreement. "Do you ever shut up!?" she hissed, and despite hearing a syllable of the older vampire's command, smacked the girl in the head. The other hand she still used to roughly grab her hair, preventing any escape.

"Pam, don't –"

"Don't fucking move!" Jason bellowed, withdrawing his gun. Patrons of the pub all froze and watched with sudden interest. His sister protested instantly, knowing the bullets inside were wooden, and overflowing with the thoughts of public panic that were beginning to form. "Fuckin vampers just think you can take what you want—

It was Sookie that noticed something was terribly wrong first. Perhaps Pamela had hit her in the head a little too hard…whatever it was, the mystery amnesia girl suddenly had memories. Thoughts of killing, memories of murder, a lifetime of bloodthirst, fucking, sin and vengeance began to bubble to the surface, rolling out so intensely that it became difficult for her not to compromise her own sanity experiencing them secondhand. Comprehending it was disturbing to the poor southern girl, although she'd experienced years of terror and death herself, this was entirely different and came all at once unexpectedly. Even alongside her telepathic abilities, she could see it in the pale-eyed girl's face, how the innocence and bewilderment seemed to turn into something else, something much harsher and scarier.

Vesper had no idea why the fuck she was in a bar, or who this idiot holding her hair was. Her attuned senses taught her it was a vampire – were they everywhere now? Ah, shit that guy from last night too. That meant it had to be dark again. At least her stomach was full.

The amount of attention drawn from the others in the premises was making her uncomfortable, and she stood upright, seeing before her the empty plates where she had been happily munching on onion rings with these caring people only moments before. She looked at their faces, Jason's contorted in rage as he aimed the gun, the blonde girl's playing a tune confusion as if she had just read or seen something terrifying, and the eyes of everyone in the restaurant as they held their breath in wait for any bloodshed or gunfire.

A gust of wind, and they were gone. There was a murmur of interest among the guests at Merlotte's - damn, so hard to even catch a meal in peace here without some crazy supernatural shit happening! - but they all returned to their own business as usual.

It had taken only a split second for Eric and Pam to recognize the shift in the creature's personality and rush her out into the woods just outside the parking lot. The lighting was dim save for the street lights a few yards behind them on the empty road. Their forms seemed extremely dark in comparison, but the victim's eyes adjusted with a faint glow to the darkness around her and took only a moment to see them clearly. The color of her eye was skewed and bright, like the tapetum lucidum of a cat, exuding a mirrorlike blue-green that was creepy to look into. Well, would have been creepy to a human being.

"Let me go." She growled.

Pamela was uninterested. "Shut up."

The female escapee responded with a hiss, growing more and more uneasy with the eyes of so many having just been upon her. What if she was recognized? Her innocently dilated pupils began to narrow into slits, revealing the remarkable hue beneath.

Eric said nothing, looking toward the woods briefly and wondering just how difficult this was going to be. Of course, he could constrain the girl himself, but he wanted to watch as this happened.

Once they were outside, with the doors safely closed behind them, they rushed to the poorly lit outermost corner of the parking lot and the woman began to squirm and growl again, pulling against Pam's steely unbreakable grasp.

"Leave me alone." She whispered through her teeth, which had grown unnaturally sharp and white. Was it from the blood he'd given her the night before? Or something else? The way this creature reacted to vampire blood was unmistakably potent. Even the female vampire's boredom was beginning to give way to annoyance now.

"Let her go, Pam." stated the older vampire, keeping a safe distance, his skin glowing pale and blue in the moonlight. The figure he cut was extremely menacing and tall, clad almost entirely in black, blending in with his surroundings. Hesitating, the younger one obliged, but he saw in a quiver in the air that she'd been too late. He spoke again with slightly more urgency. "Move back!"

"FUCK!"

With a profane scream, he found his progeny beside him, standing, but not intact. Shocked, she held at her hand, and he could smell the undead blood in the air as he observed with distaste that the ends of all her fingers had been sliced off. The bone, he could see, was beginning to reform thanks to her enhanced healing ability – it would only take minutes to grow back for a vampire her age, although he was sure it was painful, having had his own cut off once or twice in his hundreds of years of life.

Vesper felt a bit bad for unleashing her power on this unsuspecting individual, but it was all in good fun, wasn't it? At least they were far enough from the restaurant that she hadn't been seen. Vampires, from what she'd learned being enclosed with them at the facility, could heal quite quickly enough. Fingers and smaller extremities were no inconvenience, although an arm or severed leg could put one in misery for hours. The taller being became the next focus of her attention, for when they met eyes she felt a strange pull. Expressionless, showing nothing, he merely stared at her wordlessly. How had he found her so quickly?

"What do they call you?" he asked out of nowhere. His composure showed no lack of confidence, although Pam made sounds of extreme discomfort.

"I don't have a name." her own voice sounded husky to her ears, grimmer than she'd remembered it.

"Make one up."

"Hmm. Okay." She remembered, for some reason, much more vividly the bike she'd ridden as a child. It seemed her more recent memory retention was fucked from getting shot in the head but the plethora of traumatization and clips from her childhood were still easily accessible…at least for now. "Vesper."

"Pleased to meet you, Vesper."

"Fuckin' bitch." his lovely light-skinned sidekick grumbled hatefully, watching muscle and skin begin to develop at the site of her once severed fingers.

"They won't take long to grow back." promised the creature. "It could have been much worse.." she laughed to herself softly as if remembering something very fondly. Again, her attention turned to Eric, her long black hair shifting around her waist as she moved, her skin also glowing in the dim lighting. She suspected he could see very well in the dark; after tasting his blood the night before it seemed even her own senses were enhanced. "Likewise, Mr…"

"Northman. You see, Vesper, my progeny and I..." Pam snorted "were actually pleasurably seeking your company so that we might carry out a very important mission."

"I wouldn't doubt it. Vampires are motivated to take as they please."

"Well, it would benefit us all if you came willingly, would it not?"

"Sorry." she stated, not sounding sorry in the least. "Thanks for the clothes and blood and shit, but I'm out. I have to get back to the coast as soon as possible. Goodnight."

"I'm fuckin done with this bullshit." hissed the younger vampire, her hand forming skin and muscle over the wounds. The sensations of betrayal were multiplied by the pain in her regenerating digits. It didn't take long for the lady to piece together that he might have known all a long close contact with this stupid child would end up in some sort of pain."God damn sadistic bitches and fucked up bullshit chores...I should've known better when you called on me to help you. I'm out. Fuck you." with a wind-like rush she was gone into the woods, pissed and ready ditch that arrogant blonde asshole. Vesper figured she might make an escape as well.

She released a vector, feeling uneasy as she saw her pursuer's eyes follow suit at the path it marked in the air. All her life since she'd developed them they'd remained invisible to most everyone. The ones at camp had never been able to see them…in fact, at camp, relations between the vampires and her kind were always a wildcard, but never one involving friendship. At times, the telekinetic would be fast enough to slice the vamp to pieces before they got too close. Others, when they weren't fast enough, would have the predator make it to their neck and that was that. Once bit, it was over; when in pain they were unable to summon the invisible hands, and were left at the vampire's mercy –or lack thereof.

Except this wasn't camp, and she didn't have to put up with their bloodsucking shit.

Silently grasping a branch of a nearby tree with the extension of her mind, she lifted herself and shot into the sky, ditching the remaining immortal on the ground. With practised ease, she shot another one at the next treetop, staying above and between the foliage as she moved so that her figure would be less visible from the ground. Freedom was priceless. That vampire, she didn't doubt, would be struggling to find her if they even bothered; she was noiseless aside from the soft rustling, and relished the feeling of the warm night air and moonlight on her newly free skin. The stars, to her, seemed exceptionally gorgeous, as she hadn't looked upon them in years. Most days in the facility were illuminated by cruelly bright artificial lighting, or obscured completely by that damn headpiece she'd been so glad to leave in pieces in the water.

A sudden wind picked up, interrupting her thoughts. Her menacingly black hair flashed about her disobediently and obscured her vision momentarily. Sharp teeth bared together with distaste as she witnessed the form before her, that damn vampire from the night before. Alright, so he could fly, and she'd never seen that before. Props. His voice was low and confident.

"I only want to make a deal with you."

"What?"

"Share your power with me."

"That sounds more like a favour than a deal."

"I saved your life." He reasoned, eyes glowing blue in the night, his figure stark and ominous against the starry sky and darkened forest below. Devious, his fangs glowed alluringly when he spoke. "I could just as easily take it back."

"Ah, so I owe you."

"Now you're getting it." An impish grin, devilishly white, looking at her as if she were a freshly served dessert. "Tell me what those things are around you."

At first she withdrew, considering. What did she have to lose? Things could be disclosed selectively.

"They're my vectors."

"Oh?" he swooped closer. Something about his scent was extremely attractive. It carried in the wind and made her feel like a fly being drawn toward a trap. Or was she the trap…? His countenance, becoming clearer as the distance between them decreased, indicated that he was showing similar intuitions to her own.

With a rustle of leaves toward the far right, he witnessed her little body shoot to the side, away from him once more. "Hands." she explained in a voice that was somehow becoming enticing and sweet. Vesper could see him focusing his intensely colored eye at the blank distance between her and the treetops, trying to envision what she was talking about, trying to comprehend what was lifting her up. "I get that it's difficult to understand."

"I can't hear you, it's too windy." he explained, although she was pretty sure he could hear her just fine. It was only slightly breezy.

"Fine." She was gone, pulling herself down into the trees, through the soft layers and into the darkened forest. It has been almost as if something made her obey without thinking...oh, shit, this was bad. It took only a moment to register the mistake she'd made. The surrounding forest was pitch-black. She could see in the dark but almost certainly not as well as him. It was weird, how she could…feel him? A feeling unlike her own anger welled up inside of her…interest, curiosity. Closeness, but not intimacy. He was there in a fucking second, looking down on her, his eyes exceptionally blue and expression one of rapture. The scent coming off of him was intense. She wanted to reach out, not with her vector but with her much weaker physical hands, and touch him, feel exactly how cold he was. What had possessed her to land again? It was almost as if a force inside her was urging her to listen to him, to please him. Ugh. No good. No good at all. It must have been because of the night before.

"Vesper." his voice was treacherously soothing. Was he trying to hypnotize her? Not knowing what to expect, the killer focused her eyes on the figure before her that had doubtless killed many more and gotten by just fine. The way his age had led him to become such a being of confidence intrigued her, and she stared wordlessly through snakelike pupils to hear his proposition. She could have just sliced him open right then and there…but why not hear him out? Why would he put himself in such a position unless he truly had something to offer?

And, let's not forget how painful it had been when she'd attacked him the night before. The monster wasn't eager to repeat the experience and risk deactivating her vectors…in that case she'd be as good as dead.

"I have a proposition for you." The vampire was suddenly so close…why did he smell so good? It was intoxicating, and she shifted back with uneasiness. He only seemed to shift forward in return. "There are not many like you and in my many years of life I've yet to meet one, so you're actually quite fortunate…I will protect you and your identity. I'll keep you from being imprisoned or from being found by the organization you nearly traded your life to escape."

Eric observed her disbelieving violet stare with a chuckle, his vision sharp as anything in the darkness surrounding them. "Don't pretend that you're suited for the way the world is now. I'm much older than you and can provide mentorship and council. Your race is extremely new, I can smell it." pushing his boundaries, trusting his natural influence upon sentient beings (when had anyone, human or vampire turned him down?), he wrapped a leather-clad arm around her small body. The brunette shuddered in response, her tangible frame so weak tiny against his, and seemed to fit so perfectly. She was warm, living, and she knew he could feel the hunger inside of him boiling to the surface. Holding her in this position, the vampire could easily crumble her to pieces, but then again, he warned himself, so could she. It all came down to who was faster.

"Mentorship." she repeated in a way that was either extremely sarcastic or not at all.

"Why yes. I have ages of wisdom that could be of tremendous use to you. Why should you suffer the pains of a new being in a world of heartless humans and bloodthirsty undead and disease all on your lonesome?"

She was silent, as if considering it. "Things have changed. The world isn't one for just any to roam freely now. There are a myriad of threats about that you could not imagine." he eyed her up, and for the first time she felt slightly self-conscious about her half-revealed boobs and bare feet. "My old clothes don't flatter you, either."

The younger one ignored his comment. "Well, it sounds like you're offering me a lot, Mister Northman."

"I only want to be hospitable, Miss Vesper," he said with a disarmingly sweet tone, looking deeply into her eyes, waiting for any sign that she might grow enraged and slice him open. "In return I simply request that you carry out some tasks in my place during the daylight when I am underground, and share your power with me. I will make sure you're well taken care of, fed and dressed and looked after to any extent that you need."

"If I run away?"

"I'll always find you."

She smirked; hey, it had been years since she'd had any time with guys, especially hot vampire guys that weren't sex and blood crazed within an inch of their sanity. It would be a long way to go before she was ready for liberated life outside of camp. "Is that a promise or a threat?"

"That's for you to decide."

Those catlike eyes gave him an enigmatic, lustful gaze through the haze of thick dark eyelashes. The faintest noise could be heard to his highly attuned ears as she shifted her weight, leaning her hips temptingly into him, involving more of her intoxicating scent. Was it possible she knew what an effect she had? It was like catnip…the hairs on his dead neck began to stand, though, and he uneasily sensed something surrounding him. The vectors, although he couldn't see them, were coiled around them, prepared, waiting, as if she had been playing with him all along. Fast action was needed once again, it seemed…

"And how will you ever know where my loyalties truly lie?" the creature asked sweetly, her sharp teeth glowing like those of the big bad wolf when she spoke, every pore on her skin and heartbeat in her frame rendered to him in HD. "How do you know I won't just forget one day, and disappear?"

His fangs elongated. Within her range, he was in danger, but oh, with her like this, it was definitely him in control. "Like this." the little monster didn't move to stop him, and in a thrust of reciprocation he dug his sharp incisors into the delicious flesh of her neck. The feel of her soft hair and the way her body responded completely overtook his senses, and he knew nothing but how to lap greedily with his enlarged fangs at to wound he'd created. Although cold at first she became engulfingly deliciously warm to him, like sweet cream and hazelnuts and chocolate. As he tasted her blood, the vectors became visible all around him, but began to fade as he sucked the power out of her. She let out an extremely intimate sound and he found himself pushing her onto the forest ground beneath him, forcing himself between her and his clothes, her now defenceless body ecstatically and pleasurably surrendering itself.

Now that they'd traded blood, she had no choice but to show unwavering devotion…

The fanged being took what he needed, feeling extreme displeasure to tear his face away from her neck, licking the wound sealed for another day. It was so different from being with a human or vampire…delicious like a human, or even moreso, but powerful like a vampire, bitter, detached, dispassionate, and precious. Those catlike eyes met his momentarily before she leaned up and began to lick the leftover blood from his chin and face. "I'll never betray you." she purred, and he answered with something of a growl, enjoying the warmth of her huddled body beneath his, the softness and alive-ness of her distractingly long hair and smooth legs. Physical love without any emotional involvement had been something he'd always enjoyed but not this much so since losing his most beloved partners (Nora and Godric) so recently. The Viking grinned but he felt an intuitive disquiet deep down that told him this had been too easy, that this was not the end all be all of their amateured unity at all. Focusing his clear eyes on her own, he found himself lacking the confidence of the blood-sharing bonds he'd known with humans and vampires in the past.

Would it affect this sort of demon in the same way? Or was she merely playing to get something out of him?

After the ordeal, he treated her weakened body with utmost care. He brought her to one of the nearby apartments he owned in another name, to keep from being searched by other vampires. It was massive, clean, probably unfathomably expensive, multiple floors lined with modern furniture and extremely wide windows that could be sealed light-tight by use of controls he'd had custom installed. The layout was gorgeous and he envied briefly her living-ness, feeling through her the joy of how soft the carpet was on her bare feet and the relief of sitting when she was so tired. Vesper was perpetually hungry and there was no food to be seen. She demanded raw meat and he scoured the area for a sashimi platter at 3am. It was a bit disturbing to see how quickly she could put away such a costly amount of raw fish. There was no time to go over where she'd stay because she seemed too ravenous to focus on anything. The brunette badgered him until he sent Ginger to the grocery at 4am, some ungodly hour, and ate two roast chickens, a raw salmon steak that probably was meant to be cooked first, and an array of vegetables, chocolate, and bread. Nothing seemed to satisfy her, but at least she eventually quelled the urge to eat long enough to sleep. Her bony form showed no consequences of her extreme hunger.

Once she was out, the vampire locked her in, deciding to go to ground else where. He made the place impenetrable, sealing every way out, but his mind was instead on her vectors and how soon he'd be able to conjure up some of his own if he kept taking her blood.

Exchanging the gorgeous life essences over the centuries had given him power from humans, and given humans his power, so this was the first trial he would take to making her abilities one with his as soon as possible. The Viking remembered vividly the way which, when telekinetic, Bill as a "God" had been able to defy vampire law and overpower the existence around him. This was the outcome that he craved, and would be plotting extensively over the next while to obtain. Eric Northman went to "sleep" for the day in a brainstorm of what was to come, thinking to himself that she better not ruin his second apartment out of boredom or hunger when she woke up.

At sundown, it was with minor relief that he found the place impeccable and clean. The relief subsided quickly when he realized the imp was gone and he had no idea where she was. Again.

* * *

Whoop, another chapter. Watch no one read it, ugh.

Sorry it took so long, I finished the season and had to tweak things a bit to make them make sense. I don't know if I'll be including all the characters from season 6 in this but I'll try okay!


End file.
